1/72 Italeri Short Stirling I 7 Squadron RAF

[Greg Law]

Second time around is a winner.  Very nice result. 

[At Sea]

7 hours ago, Michael51 said:

This is a marvellous build.

 

Presently. I have one of these half-completed on the desk.

 

I was going to post it when finished but your superb paintwork and weathering has scared me off.

 

Did you have issues with undercarriage assembly or was I holding the instructions the wrong way 'round or something? I ended up with a splayed undercarriage, only partly ameliorated by flattening the wings at their attachment points.

 

That jig looks a smart idea.

 

Again, excellent work,

 

Michael

Thanks,

 

The paint is Humbrol Aerosol 29 brown and 163 green, I used Citadel Chaos black for the undersides, again an aerosol.  The black demarcation was done with Tamiya tape, the camouflage with blutack worms and masking tape in between.  You can see a mistake I made on the stbd wing where there is a hard edge and it looks like a splinter camo effect.  

 

Under carriage is a complex thing, I must admit it was very wobbly building it up and I test fitted a lot.

I used blu tack to hold down the wheel attachment and the aft most upper part onto a bit of card, then added the upper brace and the other leg blu tacked down similarly.  This then allowed me to add the other bits with it 'jigged'.

Sounds cleverer than it was!

 

The only annoying thing was having to add it before the build was finished, which makes handling hard, and I left the wheels off until the end, the legs are flexible enough to allow this.

 

I bet yours will be a corker!

 

[woody37]

On 5/25/2020 at 1:43 PM, IanC said:

 

Yes, the very early production Stirlings were fitted with twin Browning beam guns rather than a turret. Presumably Italeri don't provide these, as there should be an extra window each side?

 

Great job on yours. I've always been put off this kit owing to the heavy panel lines, but you've really got the best from it.

 

 

 

 

I wasn't aware of that, learn something new every day, just thought it was the Halifax. 

 

Lovely build, looks like you nailed it second time round

 

[IanC]

25 minutes ago, woody37 said:

I wasn't aware of that, learn something new every day, just thought it was the Halifax. 

 

 

Photo here:

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205093981

 

If you enlarge you can just make them out behind the trailing edge. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Michael51]

6 hours ago, IanC said:

 

Photo here:

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205093981

 

If you enlarge you can just make them out behind the trailing edge. 

 

 

 

 

 

I am unable to identify guns in the photograph, even when enlarged.

 

I have not heard or read or seen images of a Stirling fitted in this way before, only early Halifaxes.

 

Very interesting stuff.

 

Michael

[gazza l]

Excellent results, very nicely done.

 

gazza l

[adey m]

On 26/05/2020 at 13:53, woody37 said:

Yes, the very early production Stirlings were fitted with twin Browning beam guns rather than a turret.

I can see something that looks like two gun barrels in the gap between windows four and five, but how did they mount and aim them.

 

regards, adey

[Vulcanicity]

That's a beautiful Stirling, well done!

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, adey m said:

I can see something that looks like two gun barrels in the gap between windows four and five, but how did they mount and aim them.

 

regards, adey

It looks rather like the twin gun setup used on the Liberator, the gunner sat to one side

 

[IanC]

According to The Stirling File (Air Britain Publications) the beam guns took the place of a planned retractable ventral turret, but the turret kept vibrating down in flight. There was no initial plan for a dorsal turret.  

[malpaso]

According to The Stirling Story, beam guns were to be fitted pending installation of a dorsal turret.  Beam guns were Mod 215, from the way its written up this was done at airfields by a Shorts working party.  According to the book, this was owing to poor instructions from the client, the fittings to fit beam guns were not done at the factory for many month.      

  As noted above this was all part of realising the original defences werent sufficient.